Ronald G. Larson is George G. Brown Professor of

Chemical Engineering Chemical engineering is an engineering field which deals with the study of operation and design of chemical plants as well as methods of improving production. Chemical engineers develop economical commercial processes to convert raw materials int ...

and Alfred H. White Distinguished University Professor at the

University of Michigan , mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth" , former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821) , budget = $10.3 billion (2021) , endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...

, where he holds joint appointments in macromolecular science and engineering,

biomedical engineering Biomedical engineering (BME) or medical engineering is the application of engineering principles and design concepts to medicine and biology for healthcare purposes (e.g., diagnostic or therapeutic). BME is also traditionally logical sciences ...

, and

mechanical engineering Mechanical engineering is the study of physical machines that may involve force and movement. It is an engineering branch that combines engineering physics and mathematics principles with materials science, to design, analyze, manufacture, and ...

. He is internationally recognized for his research contributions to the fields of

polymer physics Polymer physics is the field of physics that studies polymers, their fluctuations, mechanical properties, as well as the kinetics of reactions involving degradation and polymerisation of polymers and monomers respectively.P. Flory, ''Principles of ...

and

complex fluid Complex fluids are mixtures that have a coexistence between two Phase (matter) , phases: solid–liquid (Suspension (chemistry) , suspensions or solutions of macromolecules such as polymers), solid–gas (Granular material, granular), liquid–gas ...

rheology Rheology (; ) is the study of the flow of matter, primarily in a fluid ( liquid or gas) state, but also as "soft solids" or solids under conditions in which they respond with plastic flow rather than deforming elastically in response to an appl ...

, especially in the development of theory and computational simulations. Notably, Larson and collaborators discovered new types of viscoelastic instabilities for polymer molecules and developed predictive theories for their flow behavior. He has written numerous scientific papers and two books on these subjects, including a 1998 textbook, �
The Structure and Rheology of Complex Fluids
��. He is a fellow of the

American Physical Society The American Physical Society (APS) is a not-for-profit membership organization of professionals in physics and related disciplines, comprising nearly fifty divisions, sections, and other units. Its mission is the advancement and diffusion of k ...

, the

American Institute of Chemical Engineers The American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE) is a professional organization for chemical engineers. AIChE was actually established in 1908 to distinguish chemical engineers as a profession independent of chemists and mechanical engineer ...

, Bingham medalist and the

Society of Rheology The Society of Rheology is an American professional society formed in December, 1929 to represent scientists and technologists working in the field of rheology, the science of the deformation and flow of matter. Current membership is of the order ...

. He was also elected a member of the National Academy of Engineering (2003) for elucidating the flow properties of complex fluids at the molecular and continuum levels through theory and experiment.

Academic career

Larson received a B.S. in 1975, an M.S. in 1977, and a Ph.D. in 1980, all in chemical engineering from the

University of Minnesota The University of Minnesota, formally the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, (UMN Twin Cities, the U of M, or Minnesota) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul, Tw ...

. Before joining the

in 1996, he was a Member of the Technical Staff at

Bell Laboratories Nokia Bell Labs, originally named Bell Telephone Laboratories (1925–1984), then AT&T Bell Laboratories (1984–1996) and Bell Labs Innovations (1996–2007), is an American industrial research and scientific development company owned by mult ...

from 1980-1996. Larson served as the Chair of the Department of Chemical Engineering of the University of Michigan from 2000-2008. He is currently the George G. Brown Professor and Alfred H. White Distinguished University Professor of

, and is a core member of the Biointerfaces Institute. Larson was the President of the

(SOR) from 1997-1999, and served on the Executive Committee of SOR during the period of 1994-2001. He is a fellow of the

(APS), and was the chair of the APS Division of Polymers in 2010. He is a member of the

American Chemical Society The American Chemical Society (ACS) is a scientific society based in the United States that supports scientific inquiry in the field of chemistry. Founded in 1876 at New York University, the ACS currently has more than 155,000 members at all d ...

(ACS), the

American Association for the Advancement of Science The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) is an American international non-profit organization with the stated goals of promoting cooperation among scientists, defending scientific freedom, encouraging scientific respons ...

(AAAS), and the

(AIChE).

Research contributions

Larson is an expert in the theory and simulations of

fluid mechanics Fluid mechanics is the branch of physics concerned with the mechanics of fluids ( liquids, gases, and plasmas) and the forces on them. It has applications in a wide range of disciplines, including mechanical, aerospace, civil, chemical and bio ...

, and transport phenomena. His research contributions are in self-assembling soft matter, especially

polymers A polymer (; Greek '' poly-'', "many" + ''-mer'', "part") is a substance or material consisting of very large molecules called macromolecules, composed of many repeating subunits. Due to their broad spectrum of properties, both synthetic an ...

, colloids, surfactant-containing fluids, liquid crystalline polymers, biological

macromolecule A macromolecule is a very large molecule important to biophysical processes, such as a protein or nucleic acid. It is composed of thousands of covalently bonded atoms. Many macromolecules are polymers of smaller molecules called monomers. The ...

s such as DNA, proteins, and polyelectrolytes. Larson (along with Susan Muller at

UC Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public university, public land-grant university, land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of Californi ...

and Eric Shaqfeh at

Stanford Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is considere ...

) is known for the discovery of fluid mechanical instabilities of polymeric fluids in curved streamlines due to polymer stretching. These type of streamlines, commonly found in Taylor-Couette flows, are of great importance to the polymer processing industry. Analogous instabilities have been known for over a century for ordinary fluids such as air and water, and these instabilities drive common phenomena such as

weather patterns Weather is the state of the atmosphere, describing for example the degree to which it is hot or cold, wet or dry, calm or stormy, clear or cloud cover, cloudy. On Earth, most weather phenomena occur in the lowest layer of the planet's atmos ...

, as well as

vortices In fluid dynamics, a vortex ( : vortices or vortexes) is a region in a fluid in which the flow revolves around an axis line, which may be straight or curved. Vortices form in stirred fluids, and may be observed in smoke rings, whirlpools in th ...

and other phenomena in common industrial flows of liquids. He has developed molecular

constitutive equation In physics and engineering, a constitutive equation or constitutive relation is a relation between two physical quantities (especially kinetic quantities as related to kinematic quantities) that is specific to a material or substance, and approx ...

s for entangled polymers, as well as many predictive theories for nonlinear rheology of branched polymers, polymers unraveling in shear and extensional flows, polymer drag reduction, shear-induced alignment transitions in block copolymers, slip and cavitation in

polymer solution Polymer solutions are solutions containing dissolved polymers. These may be (e.g. in ), or solid solutions (e.g. a substance which has been plasticized). The introduction into the polymer of small amounts of a solvent (plasticizer) reduces the te ...

s and melts, and arrested tumbling of liquid crystalline polymers. These methods have been used worldwide by researchers to understand and predict the flow properties of polymeric fluids. Larson is the sole author of two textbooks, �
Constitutive Equations for Polymer Melts and Solutions
��, and �

��. He has also co-authored wit
John Dealy
an
Daniel Read
on the book, �
Structure and Rheology of Molten Polymers
��. According to Google Scholar, Larson's publications have received over 42,500 citations and his

h-index The ''h''-index is an author-level metric that measures both the productivity and citation impact of the publications, initially used for an individual scientist or scholar. The ''h''-index correlates with obvious success indicators such as winn ...

is 87.

Awards and honors

Larson has received a significant number of awards and honors which include: * William H. Walker Award, AIChE (2020) * Fellow of the

(2015)
Polymer Physics Prize

(2019) *

Stephen S. Attwood Stephen Stanley Attwood (1897–1965) was an American academic. He was a professor at the Wave Propagation Group, division of War Research, Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia Univers ...

Award, College of Engineering, University of Michigan (2013) * Fellow of the

(2006) * Election to the National Academy of Engineering (2003) *

Bingham Medal The Bingham Medal is an annual award for outstanding contributions to the field of rheology awarded at the Annual Meeting of The Society of Rheology. It was instituted in 1948 by the society to commemorate Eugene C. Bingham (1878–1945). List o ...

(2002) * Alpha Chi Sigma Award,

AIChE The American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE) is a professional organization for chemical engineers. AIChE was actually established in 1908 to distinguish chemical engineers as a profession independent of chemists and mechanical engineers ...

(2000) * Outstanding Publication Award,

Journal of Rheology ''Journal of Rheology'' is a peer-reviewed scientific journal publishing original (primary) research on all aspects of rheology, the study of those properties of materials which determine their response to mechanical force. It is published bi-mo ...

(1999) * Excellence Award, Chemical Engineering at University of Michigan (1998) * Prudential Distinguished Visiting Fellow at

the University of Cambridge , mottoeng = Literal: From here, light and sacred draughts. Non literal: From this place, we gain enlightenment and precious knowledge. , established = , other_name = The Chancellor, Masters and Schola ...

(1996) * Fellow of the

(1994) * Distinguished Member of Technical Staff at

(1988)

Selected publications

* A. Datta, V. S. Tanmay, G. X. Tan, G. W. Reynolds, S. N. Jamadagni, & R. G. Larson. Characterizing the rheology, slip, and velocity profiles of lamellar gel networks. ''Journal of Rheology'' 64(4), 851 (2020). * Y. Wei, M. J. Solomon &, R. G. Larson. A multimode structural kinetics constitutive equation for the transient rheology of thixotropic elasto-viscoplastic fluids. ''Journal of Rheology'' 62, 321 (2018). * L. C. Hsiao, S. Jamali, E. Glynos, P.F. Green, R.G. Larson, & M.J. Solomon. Rheological state diagrams for rough colloids in shear flow. ''Physical Review Letters'' 119, 158001 (2017). * X. Tang, P. H, Koenig &, R. G. Larson. Molecular Dynamics Simulations of Sodium Dodecyl Sulfate Micelles in Water: The Effect of the Force Field. ''The Journal of Physical Chemistry B'' 118(14), 3864 (2014). * H. Hu & R.G. Larson. Marangoni effect reverses coffee-ring depositions. ''The Journal of Physical Chemistry B'' 110(14), 7090 (2006). * T. C. B. McLeish & R. G. Larson. Molecular constitutive equations for a class of branched polymers: The pom-pom polymer. Journal of Rheology 42(1), 81 (1998). * R. G. Larson. Instabilities in viscoelastic flows. ''Rheologica Acta'' 31(3), 213 (1992). * R. G. Larson, S. J. Muller & E. S. G. Shaqfeh. A purely elastic instability in Taylor-Couette flow. ''Journal of Fluid Mechanics'' 218, 573 (1990).

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Larson, Ronald Living people 1953 births Chemical engineering academics University of Michigan faculty Scientists from Michigan Fellows of the American Physical Society Fellows of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers Presidents of the Society of Rheology